Leonore Gershwin; Widow of Musical Theater Lyricist

Leonore Gershwin, the wife of lyricist Ira Gershwin, has died of the complications of age, her nephew said Wednesday. She was 90.

Mrs. Gershwin, who spent much of her final years preserving the legacy of her husband and his brother, composer George Gershwin, died Tuesday at her home in Beverly Hills, which is decorated with the brothers’ self-portraits.

In 1989, she established Roxbury Recordings, which has recorded two of the Gershwin stage works in their entirety, “Girl Crazy” and the soon-to-be-released “Strike Up the Band.”

The “Girl Crazy” album won Stereo Review’s record of the year award in 1991.

Ira and George Gershwin were two of the brightest stars of the musical theater’s Golden Age of the 1920s and ‘30s. Their first Broadway hit was “Lady, Be Good!” in 1924. Other successes include “Oh, Kay!”, “Funny Face” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Of Thee I Sing.” Ira also wrote some of the lyrics for his brother’s opera, “Porgy and Bess.”

The brothers moved to California in 1936 to work in films. George died one year later of a brain tumor. Ira died in 1983.

Ira and Leonore Strunsky were introduced by George in 1919. They were married in 1926.

Funeral services will be held Friday in the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., where her husband and brother-in-law also are buried. A memorial service in Los Angeles is being planned for October, her nephew, Michael Strunsky, said.